How to Simulate Wood Grain on a Plastic Propeller

Spray both sides of the propeller evenly with a thin coat of black primer and let the primer dry. The primer will ensure that the paint coats the propeller properly.

Select a paint with a medium brown tone. Pour a small amount of the paint onto your pallet and dilute it with water. You should try to get a consistency of paint where the paint does not stick to the brush, yet you cannot see the color of the pallet through the paint.

Paint an even basecoat onto the propeller using your basecoat brush and let it dry. Use multiple coats if necessary to coat the whole propeller.

Select a paint with a darker brown tone. Pour a small amount of the paint onto your pallet and dilute it with water.

Paint thin lines down the length of each side of the propeller using your fine detail brush. Apply pressure evenly throughout the stroke to give a clean line. The line does not need to be perfectly straight or parallel, but you should try to keep only slight curvature and variation like natural wood grain. The lines should be the same or at least similar on each side of the propeller.

Let the paint dry.

Select a paint with a lighter brown tone. Pour a small amount of the paint onto your pallet and dilute it with water.

Mix in a few drops of your medium brown paint to ease the color transition.

Paint the center area between the dark lines with this highlight color using your fine detail brush. Leave small hints of your medium brown between your highlight and lines.

Let the paint dry.

Evenly coat the propeller with matte varnish.